V. I. Lenin

Theses on Fundamental Tasks of

The Second Congress Of The Communist International

Written:30
      June, 1920First Published:July of 1920Source:Lenin’sCollected Works, 4th
      English Edition, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1965,Volume 31, pages 184-201Translated:Julius KatzerTranscription\HTML Markup:David Walters&R.
      CymbalaCopyleft:V. I. Lenin Internet Archive
      (www.marx.org) 2002. Permission is granted to copy and/or
      distribute this document under the terms of theGNU Free Documentation
      License

The Essence of the
    Dictatorship of the Proletariat and of Soviet Power

What Immediate and
    Universal Preparation for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat
    Should Consist of

Rectification of the
    Political Line—Partly Also the Composition—of Parties
    Affiliated or Desiring to Affiliate to the Communist
    International

1.The present stage in the development of the international communist
      movement is marked by the fact that the finest representatives of the
      revolutionary proletariat in all capitalist countries have fully
      grasped the fundamental principles of the Communist International,
      viz., dictatorship of the proletariat and Soviet power, and have
      ranged themselves with unbounded enthusiasm on the side of the
      Communist International. An even bigger and more important step
      forward is the definite sympathy with these fundamental principles
      that has everywhere taken shape among the broadest masses; not only of
      the urban proletariat, but of the advanced section of the rural
      workers as well.

On the other hand, two errors, or failings, are to be observed in
      the very rapidly growing international communist movement. One, which
      is very grave and constitutes an immense and immediate danger to the
      success of the cause of proletarian emancipation, is that a section of
      the old leaders and of the old parties of the Second
      International—some yielding half-unconsciously to the wishes and
      pressure of the masses, and some deliberately deceiving the masses in
      order to retain their function of agents and assistants of the
      bourgeoisie within the working-class movement—declare their
      qualified or even unqualified adherence to the Third International,
      while actually remaining in all their practical party and political
      work, on the level of the Second International. Such a state of
      affairs is absolutely intolerable, because it leads to downright
      corruption of the masses, detracts from the Third
      International’s prestige, and threatens a repetition of the same
      acts of treachery as were perpetrated by the Hungarian
      Social-Democrats, who so hastily assumed the title of Communists. The
      other error, which is far less significant and is more in the nature
      of growing pains of the movement, consists in a tendency towards
      “Leftism” which results in a wrong appraisal of the role
      and the tasks of the party with regard to the class and the masses,
      and a wrong attitude towards the revolutionary Communists’
      obligation to work in bourgeois parliaments and reactionary trade
      unions.

Communists are in duty bound, not to gloss over shortcomings in
      their movement, but to criticise them openly so as to remedy them the
      more speedily and radically. For this purpose it is necessary: first,
      to define as concretely as possible, particularly on the basis of the
      practical experience already acquired, the content of the concepts
      “dictatorship of the proletariat” and “Soviet
      power”; second, to specify the precise content of the immediate
      and systematic preparatory work to be carried on in all countries so
      as to give effect to these slogans; and third, to specify the methods
      and means of rectifying the faults in our movement.

2.The victory of socialism (as the first stage of communism) over
capitalism requires that the proletariat, as the only really
revolutionary class, shall accomplish the following three
tasks. First—overthrow the exploiters, and first and foremost
the bourgeoisie, as their principal economic and political
representative; utterly rout them; crush their resistance; absolutely
preclude any attempt on their part to restore the yoke of capital and
wage-slavery. Second—win over and bring under the leadership of
the Communist Party, the revolutionary vanguard of the proletariat,
not only the entire proletariat, or its vast majority, but all who
labour and are exploited by capital; educate, organise, train and
discipline them in the actual course of a supremely bold and
ruthlessly firm struggle against the exploiters; wrest this vast
majority of the pqpulation in all the capitalist countries from
dependence on the bourgeoisie; imbue it, through its own practical
experience, with confidence in the leading role of the proletariat and
of its revolutionary vanguard. Third—neutralise, or render
harmless, the inevitable vacillation between the bourgeoisie and the
proletariat, between bourgeois democracy and Soviet power, to be seen
in the class of petty proprietors in agriculture, industry and
commerce—a class which is still fairly numerous in nearly all
advanced countries, although comprising only a minority of the
population—as well as in the stratum of intellectuals, salary
earners, etc., which corresponds to this class.

The first and second tasks are independent ones, each
      requiring its own special methods of action with regard to the
      exploiters and to the exploited respectively. The third task
      follows from the first two, and merely requires a skilful,
      timely and flexible combination of methods of the first and
      second type, depending on the specific circumstances in each
      separate instance of vacillation.

3.In the concrete situation created throughout the world, and
      above all in the most advanced, powerful, enlightened and free
      capitalist countries, by militarism, imperialism, the oppression
      of colonies and weak countries, the world wide imperialist
      butchery and the “Peace” of Versailles—in that
      situation the very idea of the capitalists peacefully submitting
      to the will of the majority of the exploited, the very idea of a
      peaceful, reformist transition to socialism, is not merely sheer
      philistine stupidity but also down right deception of the
      workers, embellishment of capitalist wage-slavery, and
      concealment of the truth. That truth consists in the
      bourgeoisie, even the most enlightened and democratic, no longer
      hesitating at any fraud or crime, even the massacre of millions
      of workers and peasants, so as to preserve private ownership of
      the means of production. Only the forcible overthrow of the
      bourgeoisie, the confiscation of its property, the destruction
      of the entire bourgeois state apparatus from top to
      bottom—parliamentary. judicial, military, bureaucratic,
      administrative, municipal, etc.—right down to the
      wholesale deportation or internment of the most dangerous and
      stubborn exploiters and the institution of strict surveillance
      over them so as to foil their inevitable attempts to resist and
      to restore capitalist slavery—only such measures can
      ensure real submission of the whole class of exploiters.

On the other hand, the idea, common among the old parties
      and the old leaders of the Second International, that the
      majority of the exploited toilers can achieve complete clarity
      of socialist consciousness and firm socialist convictions and
      character under capitalist slavery, under the yoke of the
      bourgeoisie (which assumes an inIinite variety of forms that
      become more subtle and at the same time more brutal and ruthless
      the higher the cultural level in a given capitalist country) is
      also idealisation of capitalism and of bourgeois democracy, as
      well as deception of the workers. In fact, it is only after the
      vanguard of the proletariat, supported by the whole or the
      majority of this, the only revolutionary class, overthrows the
      exploiters, suppresses them, emancipates the exploited from
      their state of slavery and-immediately improves their conditions
      of life at the expense of the expropriated capitalists—it
      is only after this, and only in the actual process of an acute
      class strugg]e, that the masses of the toilers and exploited can
      be educated, trained and organised around the proletariat under
      whose influence and guidance, they can get rid of the
      selfishness, disunity, vices and weaknesses engendered by
      private property; only then will they be converted into a free
      union of free workers.

4.Victory over capitalism calls for proper relations between
      the leading (Communist) party, the revolutionary class (the
      proletariat) and the masses, i.e., the entire body of the
      toilers and the exploited. Only the Communist Party, if it is
      really the vanguard of the revolutionary class, if it really
      comprises all the finest representatives of that class, if it
      consists of fully conscious and staunch Communists who have been
      educated and steeled by the experience of a persistent
      revolutionary struggle, and if it has succeeded in linking
      itself inseparably with the whole life of its class and, through
      it, with the whole mass of the exploited, and in completely
      winning the confidence of this class and this mass—only
      such a party is capable of leading the proletariat in a final,
      most ruthless and decisive struggle against all the forces of
      capitalism. On the other hand, it is only under the leadership
      of such a party that the proletariat is capable of displaying
      the full might of its revolutionary onslaught, and of overcoming
      the inevitable apathy and occasional resistance of that small
      minority, the labour aristocracy, who have been corrupted by
      capitalism, the old trade union and co-operative leaders,
      etc.—only then will it be capable of displaying its full
      might, which, because of the very economic structure of
      capitalist society, is infinitely greater than its proportion of
      the population. Finally, it is only after they have been really
      emancipated from the yoke of the bourgeoisie and of the
      bourgeois machinery of state, only after they have found an
      opportunity of organising in their Soviets in a really free way
      (free from the exploiters), that the masses, i.e., the toilers
      and exploited as a body, can display, for the first time in
      history, all the initiative and energy of tens of millions of
      people who have been crushed by capitalism. Only when the
      Soviets have become the sole state apparatus is it really
      possible to ensure the participation, in the work of
      administration, of the entire mass of the exploited, who, even
      under the most enlightened and freest bourgeois democracy, have
      always actually been excluded 99 per cent from participation in
      the work of administration. It is only in the Soviets that the
      exploited masses really begin to learn—not in books, but
      from their own practical experience—the work of socialist
      construction, of creating a new social discipline and a free
      union of free workers.

5.The present stage in the development of the international
      communist movement is marked by the fact that in the vast
      majority of capitalist countries, the proletariat’s
      preparations to effect its dictatorship have not been completed,
      and, in many cases, have not even been systematically
      begun. From this it does not, however, follow that the
      proletarian revolution is impossible in the immediate future; it
      is perfectly possible, since the entire economic and political
      situation is most inflammable and abounds in causes of a sudden
      flare-up; the other condition for revolution, apart from the
      proletariat’s preparedness, viz., a general state of
      crisis in all the ruling and in all bourgeois parties, also
      exists. However, it does follow that the Communist
      Parties’ current task consists not in accelerating the
      revolution, but in intensifying the preparation of the
      proletariat. On the other hand, the facts cited above from the
      history of many socialist parties make it incumbent on us to see
      that “recognition” of the dictatorship of the
      proletariat shall not remain a more matter of words.

Hence, from the point of view of the international
      proletarian movement, it is the Communist parties ’
      principal task at the present moment to unite the scattered
      Communist forces, to form a single Communist Party in every
      country (or to reinforce or renovate the already existing Party)
      in order to increase tenfold the work of preparing the
      proletariat for the conquest of political power—political
      power, moreover, in the form of the dictatorship of the
      proletariat. The ordinary socialist work conducted by groups and
      parties which recognise the dictatorship of the proletariat has
      by no means undergone that fundamental reorganisation, that
      fundamental renovation, which is essential before this work can
      be considered communist work and adequate to the tasks to be
      accomplished on the eve of proletarian dictatorship.

6.The proletariat’s conquest of political power does
      not put a stop to its class struggle against the bourgeoisie; on
      the contrary, it renders that struggle most widespread, intense
      and ruthless. Owing to the extreme intensification of the
      struggle all groups, parties and leaders in the working-class
      movement who have fully or partly adopted the stand of
      reformism, of the “Centre”, etc., inevitably side
      with the bourgeoisie or join the waverers, or else (what is the
      most dangerous of all) land in the ranks of the unreliable
      friends of the victorious proletariat. Hence, preparation for
      the dictatorship of the proletariat calls, not only for an
      intensification of the struggle against reformist and
      “Centrist” tendencies, but also for a change in the
      character of that struggle. The struggle cannot be restricted to
      explaining the erroneousness of these tendencies; it must
      unswervingly and ruthlessly expose any leader of the
      working-class movement who reveals such tendencies, for
      otherwise the proletariat cannot know who it will march with
      into the decisive struggle against the bourgeoisie. This
      struggle is such that at any moment it may—and actually
      does, as experience has shown—substitute criticism with
      weapons for the weapon of criticism.[6]Any inconsistency
      or weakness in exposing those who show themselves to be
      reformists or “Centrists” means directly increasing
      the danger of the power of the proletariat being overthrovn by
      the bourgeoisie, which tomorrow will utilise for the
      counter-revolution that which short-sighted people today see
      merely as “theoretical difference”.

7.In particular, we must not restrict ourselves to the usual
      repudiation, in principle, of all collaboration between the
      proletariat and the bourgeoisie, of all
      “collaborationism”. Under the dictatorship of the
      proletariat, which will never be able, at one stroke, to abolish
      private property completely, mere defence of
      “liberty”’ and “equality”, while
      private ownership of the means of production is preserved, turns
      into “collaboration” with the bourgeoisie, and
      undermines the rule of the working class. The dictatorship of
      the proletariat means that the state uses its whole machinery of
      power to uphold and perpetuate “no-liberty” for the
      exploiters to continue their oppression and exploitation,
      “inequality” between the owner of property (i.e.,
      one who has appropriated for himself certain means of production
      created by social labour) and the non-owner. That which, prior
      to the victory of the proletariat, seems merely a theoretical
      difference on the question of “democracy” inevitably
      becomes, on the day following victory, a question that is
      settled by force of arms. Consequently, even preliminary work in
      preparing the masses to effect the dictatorship of the
      proletariat is impossible without a radical change in the entire
      character of the struggle against the “Centrists”
      and the “champions of democracy “.

8.The dictatorship of the proletariat is the most determined
      and revolutionary form of the proletariat’s class struggle
      against the bourgeoisie. This struggle can be successful only
      when the most revolutionary vanguard of the proletariat has the
      backing of the overwhelming majority of the proletariat. Hence,
      preparation for the dictatorship of the proletariat entails not
      only explanation of the bourgeois character of all reformism, of
      all defence of democracy, while private ownership of the means
      of production is preserved; it entails, not only exposure of
      such trends, which are in fact a defence of the bourgeoisie
      within the labour movement; it also calls for old leaders being
      replaced by Communists in proletarian organisations of
      absolutely every type—not only political, but also trade
      union, co-operative, educational, etc. The more complete,
      lengthy and firmly established the rule of bourgeois democracy
      has been in a given country, the more the bourgeoisie will have
      succeeded in securing the appointment to such leading posts of
      people whose minds have been moulded by it and imbued with its
      views and prejudices, and who have very often been directly or
      indirectly bought by it. These representatives of the labour
      aristocracy, bourgeoisified workers, should be ousted from all
      their posts a hundred times more sweepingly than hitherto, and
      replaced by workers—even by wholly inexperienced men,
      provided they are connected with the exploited masses and enjoy
      their confidence in the struggle against the exploiters. The
      dictatorship of the proletariat will require the appointment of
      such inexperienced workers to the most responsible posts in the
      state; otherwise the workers’ government will be impotent
      and will not have the support of the masses.

9.The dictatorship of the proletariat means that all toiling
      and exploited people, who have been disunited, deceived,
      intimidated, oppressed, downtrodden and crushed by the
      capitalist class, come under the full leadership of the only
      class trained for that leadership by the whole history of
      capitalism. That is why the following is one of the methods
      whereby preparations for the dictatorship of the proletariat
      should be started everywhere and immediately:

In all organisations, unions and associations without
      exception, and first and foremost in proletarian organisations,
      but also in those of the non-proletarian toiling and exploited
      masses (political, trade union, military, co-operative,
      educational, sports, etc., etc.), groups or cells of Communists
      should be formed—preferably open groups, but underground
      groups as well, the latter being essential whenever there is
      reason to expect their suppression, or the arrest or banishment
      of their members on the part of the bourgeoisie; these cells,
      which are to be in close touch with one another and with the
      Party centre, should, by pooling their experience, carrying on
      work of agitation, propaganda and organisation, adapting
      themselves to absolutely every sphere of public life and to
      every variety and category of the toiling masses, systematically
      educate themselves, the Party, the class, and the masses by
      means of such diversified work.

In this connection, it is of the utmost importance that
      necessary distinctions between the methods of work should be
      evolved in practice: on the one hand, in relation to the
      “leaders”, or “responsible
      representatives”, who are very often hopelessly beset with
      petty-bourgeois and imperialist prejudices—such
      “leaders” must be ruthlessly exposed and expelled
      from the working-class movement—and, on the other hand, in
      relation to the masses, who, particularly after the imperialist
      holocaust, are for the most part inclined to listen to and
      accept the doctrine that the guidance from the proletariat is
      essential, as the only way of escape from capitalist slavery. We
      must learn to approach the masses with particular patience and
      caution so as to be able to understand the distinctive features
      in the mentality of each stratum, calling, etc., of these
      masses.

10.In particular, there is a group or cell of Communists
      that deserves exceptional attention and care from the Party,
      i.e., the parliamentary group of Party members, who are deputies
      to bourgeois representative institutions (primarily the
      national, but also local, municipal, etc., representative
      institutions). On the one hand, it is this tribune which is held
      in particular regard by large sections of the toiling masses,
      who are backward or imbued with petty-bourgeois prejudices; it
      is therefore imperative for Communists to utilise this tribune
      to conduct propaganda, agitation and organisational work and to
      explain to the masses why the dispersal of the bourgeois
      parliament by the national congress of Soviets was legitimate in
      Russia (and, at the proper time, will be legitimate in any
      country). On the other hand, the entire history of bourgeois
      democracy, particularly in the advanced countries, has converted
      the parliamentary rostrum into one of the principal, if not the
      principal, venues of unparalleled fraudulency, financial and
      political deception of the people, careerism, hypocrisy and
      oppression of the working people. The intense hatred of
      parliaments felt by the best representatives of the
      revolutionary proletariat is therefore quite justified. The
      Communist parties and all parties affiliated to the Third
      International—especially those which have not arisen by
      splitting away from the old parties and by waging a long and
      persistent struggle against them, but through the old parties
      accepting (often nominally) the new stand—should therefore
      adopt a most strict attitude towards their parliamentary groups;
      the latter must be brought under the full control and direction
      of the Central Committees of the Parties; they must consist, in
      the main, of revolutionary workers; speeches by members of
      parliament should be carefully analysed in the Party press and
      at Party meetings, from a strictly communist standpoint;
      deputies should be sent to carry on agitational work among the
      masses; those who manifest Second International leanings should
      be expelled from the parliamentary groups, etc.

11.One of the chief causes hampering the revolutionary
      working-class movement in the developed capitalist countries is
      the fact that because of their colonial possessions and the
      super-profits gained by finance capital, etc., the capitalists
      af these countries have been able to create a relatively larger
      and more stable labour aristocracy, a section which comprises a
      small minority of the working class. This minority enjoys better
      terms of employment and is most-imbued with a narrow-minded
      craft spirit and with petty-bourgeois and imperialist
      prejudices. It forms the real social pillar of the Second
      International, of the reformists and the
      “Centrists”; at present it might even be called the
      social mainstay of the bourgeoisie. No preparation of the
      proletariat for the overthrow of the bourgeoisie is possible,
      even in the preliminary sense, unless an immediate, systematic,
      extensive and open struggle is waged against this stratum,
      which, as experience has already fully shown, will no doubt
      provide the bourgeois White guards with many a recruit after the
      victory of the proletariat. All parties affiliated to the Third
      International must at all costs give effect to the slogans:
      “Deeper into the thick of the masses”, “Closer
      links with the masses”—meaning by the masses all
      those who toil and are exploited by capital, particularly those
      who are least organised and educated, who are most oppressed and
      least amenable to organisation.

The proletariat becomes revolutionary only insofar as it
      does not restrict itself to the narrow framework of craft
      interests, only when in all matters and spheres of public life,
      it acts as the leader of all the toiling and exploited masses;
      it cannot achieve its dictatorship unless it is prepared and
      able to make the greatest sacrifices for the sake of victory
      over the bourgeoisie. In this respect, the experience of Russia
      is significant both in principle and in practice. The
      proletariat could not have achieved its dictatorship there, or
      won the universally acknowledged respect and confidence of all
      the toiling masses, had it not made the most sacrifices, or
      starved more than any other section of those masses at the most
      crucial moments of the onslaught, war and blockade effected by
      the world bourgeoisie.

In particular, the Communist Party and all advanced
      proletarians must give all-round and unstinted support
      especially to the spontaneous and mass strike movement, which,
      under the yoke of capital, is alone capable of really rousing,
      educating and organising the masses, of imbuing them with
      complete confidence in the leadership of the revolutionary
      proletariat. Without such preparation, no dictatorship of the
      proletariat is possible; those who are capable of publicly
      opposing strikes, such as Kautsky in Germany and Turati in
      Italy, cannot possibly be tolerated in the ranks of parties
      affiliated to the Third International. This applies even more,
      of course, to those trade union and parliamentary leaders who so
      often betray the workers by using the experience of strikes to
      teach them reformism, and not revolution (for instance, in
      Britain and in France in recent years).

12.In all countries, even in those that are freest, most
      “legal”, and most “peaceful” in the
      sense that the class struggle is least acute there, it is now
      absolutely indispensable for every Communist Party to
      systematically combine legal and illegal work, legal and illegal
      organisations. Notwithstanding their false and hypocritical
      declarations, the governments of even the most enlightened and
      freest of countries, where the bourgeois-democratic system is
      most “stable”, are already systematically and
      secretly drawing up blacklists of Communists and constantly
      violating their own constitutions so as to give secret or
      semi-secret encouragement to the whiteguards and to the murder
      of Communists in all countries, making secret preparations for
      the arrest of Communists, plantingagents provocateursamong the Communists, etc., etc. Only a most reactionary
      philistine, no matter what cloak of fine
      “democratic” and pacifist phrases he may don, will
      deny this fact or the conclusion that of necessity follows from
      it viz., that all legal Communist parties must immediately form
      illegal organisations for the systematic conduct of illegal work
      and for complete preparations for the moment the bourgeoisie
      resorts to persecution. Illegal work is most necessary in the
      army, the navy and the police because, since the imperialist
      holocaust, governments the world over have begun to stand in
      dread of people’s armies which are open to the workers and
      peasants, and are secretly resorting to all kinds of methods to
      set up military units specially recruited from the bourgeoisie
      and equipped with the most up-to-date weapons.

On the other hand, it is likewise necessary that, in all
      cases without exception, the parties should not restrict
      themselves to illegal work, but should conduct legal work as
      well, overcoming all obstacles, starting legal publications, and
      forming legal organisations under the most varied names, which
      should be frequently changed if necessary. This is being
      practised by the illegal Communist parties in Finland, Hungary,
      partly in Germany, Poland, Latvia, etc. It should be practised
      by the Industrial Workers of the World in the U.S.A. and by all
      Communist parties at present legal, should public prosecutors
      see fit to take proceedings against them on the grounds of
      resolutions adopted by Congresses of the Communist
      International, etc.

A combination of illegal and legal work is an absolute
      principle dictated, not only by all features of the present
      period, that of the eve of the proletarian dictatorship, but
      also by the necessity of proving to the bourgeoisie that there
      is not, nor can there be, any sphere of activity that cannot be
      won by the Communists; above all, it is dictated by the fact
      that broad strata of the proletariat and even broader strata of
      the non-proletarian toiling and exploited masses still exist
      everywhere, who continue to believe in bourgeois-democratic
      legality and whom we must undeceive without fail.

13.In particular, the conditions of the working-class press
      in most advanced capitalist countries strikingly reveal the
      utter fraudulency of liberty and equality under bourgeois
      democracy, as well as the necessity of systematically combining
      legal work with illegal work. Both in vanquished Germany and in
      victorious America, the entire power of the bourgeoisie’s
      machinery of state and all the machinations of the financial
      magnates are employed to deprive the workers of their press,
      these including legal proceedings, the arrest (or murder by
      hired assassins) of editors, denial of mailing privileges, the
      cutting off of paper supplies, and so on and so forth. Besides,
      the news services essential to daily newspapers are run by
      bourgeois telegraph agencies, while advertisements, without
      which a large newspaper cannot pay its way, depend on the
      “good will” of the capitalists. To sum up: through
      skulduggery and the pressure of capital and the bourgeois state,
      the bourgeoisie is depriving the revolutionary proletariat of
      its press.

To combat this, the Communist parties must create a new type
      of periodical press for mass distribution among the workers:
      first, legal publications, which, without calling themselves
      communist and without publicising their links with the Party,
      must learn to make use of any legal opportunity, however slight,
      just as the Bolsheviks did under the tsar, after 1905; secondly,
      illegal leaflets, even the briefest and published at irregular
      intervals, but reprinted at numerous printshops by workers
      (secretly, or, if the movement has become strong enough, by the
      revolutionary seizure of printshops), and providing the
      proletariat with outspoken revolutionary information and
      revolutionary slogans.

Preparations for the dictatorship of the proletariat is
      impossible without a revolutionary struggle, into which the
      masses are drawn, for the freedom of the communist press.

14.The measure in which the proletariat in countries most
      important from the viewpoint of world economics and politics is
      prepared to establish its dictatorship can be seen with the
      greatest objectivity and precision in the fact that the most
      influential parties of the Second International, viz., the
      French Socialist Party, the Independent Social-Democratic Party
      of Germany, the Independent Labour Party of Great Britain and
      the Socialist Party of America,[7]have withdrawn
      from this yellow International, and have decided—the first
      three conditionally, the latter even unconditionally—to
      affiliate to the Third In ternational. This proves that not only
      the vanguard of the revolutionary proletariat but its majority
      too have begun to come over to our side, convinced by the entire
      course of events. The main thing now is the ability to
      consummate this process and to consolidate firmly in point of
      organisation what has been achieved, so as to advance all along
      the line, without the slightest wavering.

15.All the activities of the parties mentioned (to which
      should be added the Socialist Party of Switzerland,[8]if the telegraph reports of
      its decision to join the Third International are true)
      show—as any periodical of these parties will
      strikingly confirm—that they are not yet communist,
      and quite often run directly counter to the fundamental
      principles of the Third International, viz., the
      recognition of the dictatorship of the proletariat and
      Soviet government in place of bourgeois democracy.

Accordingly, the Second Congress of the Communist
      International must resolve that it cannot immediately accept the
      affiliation of these parties; that it endorses the reply given
      by the Executive Committee of the Third International to the
      German “Independents”[9]; that it confirms
      its readiness to conduct negotiations with any party that
      withdraws from the Second International and desires to enter
      into closer relations with the Third International; that it will
      admit the delegates of such parties in a deliberative capacity
      to all its congresses and conferences; that it sets the
      following conditions for the complete adhesion of these (and
      similar), parties with the Communist International:

1)All decisions of all Congresses of the Communist
      International and of its Executive Committee to be published in
      all the periodicals of the parties concerned;

2)These decisions to be discussed at special meetings of all
      sections or local organisations of the parties;

3)After such discussion, special congresses of the parties
      to be convened to sum up the results, and for the purpose
      of—

4)Purging the parties of elements that continue to act in
      the spirit of the Second International;

5)All periodical publications of the parties to be placed
      under exclusively Communist editorship.

The Second Congress of the Third International should
      instruct its Executive Committee formally to accept these and
      similar parties into the Third International after ascertaining
      that all these conditions have actually been met and that the
      activities of the parties have assumed a communist
      character.

16.As to the question of the conduct of Communists now
      holding a minority of the responsible posts in these and similar
      parties, the Second Congress of the Communist International
      should resolve that, in view of the obvious growth of sincere
      sympathy for communism among working men belonging to these
      parties, it would be undesirable for Communists to resign from
      the latter, as long as they can carry on work within them for
      the recognition of the dictatorship of the proletariat and
      Soviet government, and as long as it is possible to criticise
      the opportunists and Centrists who still remain in these
      parties.

At the same time, the Second Congress of the Third
      International should declare in favour of Communist groups and
      organisations, or groups and organisations sympathising with
      communism, joining the Labour Party in Great Britain, despite
      its membership in the Second International. As long as this
      party ensures its affiliated organisations their present freedom
      of criticism and freedom to carry on work of propaganda,
      agitation and organisation in favour of the dictatorship of the
      proletariat and Soviet government, and as long as this party
      preserves the character of a federation of all trade union
      organisations of the working class, it is imperative for
      Communists to do everything and to make certain compromises in
      order to be able to exercise their influence on the broadest
      masses of the workers, to expose their opportunist leaders from
      a higher tribune, that is in fuller view of the masses, and to
      hasten the transfer of political power from the direct
      representatives of the bourgeoisie to the “labour
      lieutenants of the capitalist class”, so that the masses
      may be more quickly weaned away from their last illusions on
      this score.

17.Concerning the Socialist Party of Italy, the Second
      Congress of the Third International considers that the criticism
      of that party and the practical proposals submitted to the
      National Council of the Socialist Party of Italy in the name of
      the party’s Turin section,[10]as set forth inL’Ordine Nuovoof May 8, 1920, are in the main
      correct and are fully in keeping with the fundamental principles
      of the Third International.

Accordingly, the Second Congress of the Third International
      requests the Socialist Party of Italy to convene a special
      congress to discuss these proposals and also all the decisions
      of the two Congresses of the Communist International for the
      purpose of rectifying the party’s line and of purging it,
      particularly its parliamentary group, of non-Communist
      elements.

18.The Second Congress of the Third International considers
      erroneous the views on the Party’s relation to the class
      and to the masses, and the view that it is not obligatory for
      Communist parties to participate in bourgeois parliaments and in
      reactionary trade unions. These views have been refuted in
      detail in special decisions of the present Congress, and
      advocated most fully by the Communist Workers’ Party of
      Germany, and partly by the Communist Party of Switzerland[11], byKommunismus, organ of
      the East-European Secretariat of the Communist International in
      Vienna, by the now dissolved secretariat in Amsterdam, by
      several Dutch comrades, by several Communist organisations in
      Great Britain, as, for example, the Workers’ Socialist
      Federation, etc., and also by the Industrial Workers of the
      World in the U.S.A. and the Shop Stewards’ Committees in
      Great Britain, etc.

Nevertheless, the Second. Congress of the Third
      International considers it possible and desirable that those of
      the above-mentioned organisations which have not yet officially
      affiliated to the Communist International should do so
      immediately; for in the present instance, particularly as
      regards the Industrial Workers of the World in the U.S.A. and
      Australia, as well as the Shop Stewards’ Committees in
      Great Britain, we are dealing with a profoundly proletarian and
      mass movement, which in all essentials actually stands by the
      basic principles of the Communist International. The erroneous
      views held by these organisations regarding participation in
      bourgeois parliaments can be explained, not so much by the
      influence of elements coming from the bourgeoisie, who bring
      their essentially petty-bourgeois views into the
      movement—views such as anarchists often hold—as by
      the political inexperience of proletarians who are quite
      revolutionary and connected with the masses.

For this reason, the Second Congress of the Third
      International requests all Communist organisations and groups in
      the Anglo-Saxon countries, even if the Industrial Workers of the
      World and the Shop Stewards’ Committees do not immediately
      affiliate to the Third International, to pursue a very friendly
      policy towards these organisations, to establish closer contacts
      with them and the masses that sympathise with them, and to
      explain to them in a friendly spirit—on the basis of the
      experience of all revolutions, and particularly of the three
      Russian revolutions of the twentieth century—the
      erroneousness of their views as set forth above, and not to
      desist from further efforts to amalgamate with these
      organisations to form a single Communist party.

19.In this connection, the Congress draws the attention of
      all comrades, particularly in the Latin and Anglo-Saxon
      countries, to the fact that, since the war, a profound
      ideological division has been taking place among anarchists all
      over the world regarding the attitude to be adopted towards the
      dictatorship of the proletariat and Soviet government. Moreover,
      a proper understanding of these principles is particularly to be
      seen among proletarian elements that have often been impelled
      towards anarchism by a perfectly legitimate hatred of the
      opportunism and reformism of the parties of the Second
      International. That understanding is growing the more widespread
      among them, the more familiar they become with the experience of
      Russia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Germany.

The Congress therefore considers it the duty of all
      Communists to do everything to help all proletarian mass
      elements to abandon anarchism and come over to the side of the
      Third International. The Congress points out that the measure in
      which genuinely Communist parties succeed in winning mass
      proletarian elements rather than intellectual, and
      petty-bourgeois elements away from anarchism, is a criterion of
      the success of those Parties.

July 4, 1920

[6]Lenin is quoting from Marx’s work “Zur Kritik der
    Hegelschen Rechtsphilosophie” (see Marx/Engels,Werke, Bd. 1, S. 385).

[7]TheAmerican Socialist Partywas formed in July 1901 at a
    congress held in Indianapolis, as the result of a merger of groups
    that had broken away from the Socialist Workers’ Party and
    the Social-Democratic Party of the U.S.A. Among the new
    party’s organisers was Eugene Debs, a popular figure in the
    U.S. labour movement. The social composition of the party was not
    uniform, it contained native-born and immigrant workers, as well
    as small farmers and people of petty-bourgeois origin. The
    Centrist and the Right-wing opportunist leaders of the party
    (Victor Berger, Morris Hillquit and others) denied the necessity
    of the proletarian dictatorship, renounced revolutionary methods
    of struggle, and reduced all party activities to participation in
    election campaigns. During the First World War (1914-18) three
    trends appeared in the Socialist Party: the social-chauvinists,
    who supported the imperialist policy of the Administration, the
    Centrists, who opposed the imperialist war only in word, and the
    revolutionary minority, who took an internationalist stand and
    struggled against the war.

The Socialist Party’s Left wing, headed
    by Charles Ruthenberg, William Foster, William Haywood and others,
    relying on the proletarian elements, waged a struggle against the
    party’s opportunist leadership, for independent proletarian
    action and the formation of industrial trade unions based on the
    principles of the class struggle. In 1919 a split took place in
    the Socialist Party. The party’s Left wing broke away,
    bccoming the initiator and nucleus of the Communist Party of the
    U.S.A. At present the Socialist Party is a small sectarian
    organisation.

[8]TheSocial-Democratic Party of Switzerland(known as
      the Swiss Socialist Party) was formed in the seventies of the
      last century and affiliated to the First International. The
      party was re-formed in 1888. The opportunists were very
      influential in the party, and during the First World War took a
      social-chauvinist stand. In the autumn of 1916, the
      Party’s Right wing broke away to form their own
      organisation. The majority, headed by Robert Grimm, took a
      Centrist, social-pacifist stand, while the Left wing of the
      party adhered to an internationalist stand. The Great October
      Socialist Revolution in Russia influenced and strengthened the
      Left wing which, in December 1920, broke away and joined the
      Communist Party of Switzerland in 1921 (see Note 69).

[9]“Draft (or the Theses) of the R.C.P.’s Reply to a
    Letter from the German Independent Social-Democratic Party”
    (see present edition, Vol. 30, pp. 337-44).

[10]TheTurin sectionaccused the Italian Socialist Party
    with its conciliatory leadership, of failing to give a correct
    analysis of events, in the conditions of the revolutionary upsurge
    in Italy (1919-20) that had created the possibility of the seizure
    of political power by the proletariat, and of having failed to
    advance any slogan acceptable to the revolutionary masses, and
    expel the reformists from its ranks. The section made a number of
    practical proposals: the expulsion of the opportunists from the
    party; the formation of communist groups in each factory, in the
    trade unions, co-operatives, and army barracks, the setting-up of
    factory T.U. committees to organise control of production in
    industry and agriculture. The section demanded that work to
    prepare the working masses for the creation of Soviets should be
    begun at once.

[11]In October 1918, part of the Social-Democrat Left wing united to
    form the Communist Party of Switzerland. It was not a big party at
    the time, being represented by two delegates at the Second
    Congress of the Comintern.

In December 1920, the Left wing of the Swiss
    Social-Democratic Party broke away from it, and raised the
    question of forming a strong section of the Communist
    International in Switzerland. At a congress held in Zurich in
    March 1921, attended by 28 delegates from the Communist Party and
    145 delegates representing the former Left wing of the
    Social-Democratic Party, the two groups officially united to form
    a single Communist Party of Switzerland.